Aldfrith, (died Dec. 14, 704, Driffield, Eng.) king of Northumbria (685–704) and patron of literature. An illegitimate son of Oswiu and the Irish princess Fína, he succeeded to the throne when his brother Ecgfrith was killed at the Battle of Nechtansmere. Educated for the priesthood, he stimulated the growth of scholarship in Northumbria during his reign, producing conditions under which the historian Bede flourished.